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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Saw a lot of social media talk the other day about 'all lives matter', white racism, etc. etc. and rightly so. This is a good thing. As long as we talk. As long as we are sincere. And as long as we LISTEN. We must listen to each other. Let us all enter the discussion with open minds and hearts. Preconceived notions and know-it-alls are NOT welcome here. I grew up with racism. While not defending it, I can recognize the source of it. . . and as they say, acknowledging the problem is the first step in resolving it. It's not easy and it's not simple. Still, I believe it is noble and worth working toward. Like campaign reform and redistribution of wealth, it probably won't be accomplished in my lifetime. But it will be accomplished.

So let's be careful to avoid generalizations. People are people, and much like music, there are only two kinds. . . good and bad. Be sincere.

Monday, June 29, 2015

(Bernie Sanders on Republican family values)
". . . When a mother has a baby and is unable to spend time with that child during the first weeks and months of his or her life, that is not a family value.

When a wife is diagnosed with cancer and a husband cannot get time off of work to take care of her, that is not a family value.

When a mother is forced to send her sick child to school because she cannot afford to stay home with her, that is not a family value.

When a husband, wife, and kids, during the course of an entire year, are unable to spend any time together on vacation, that is not a family value.

The Republican agenda for families is really an attack on everything that a family is supposed to stand for.

When it comes to basic workplace protections and family benefits, workers in every other major industrialized country in the world get a better deal than workers in the United States. That should be an embarrassment to anyone who wants to talk seriously about family values in this country. . ."

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Tsarnaev sentenced. . . the Pope says you're not a Christian if you have a gun. . . white supremacist kills nine innocent people in a church. . . serious consideration is given to removing confederate flags from government facilities. . . heavy summer thunderstorms. . . prison seamstress smuggled saws to prisoners inside raw meat. . . Putin marches on. . . Kurdish forces say they seized a military base from ISIS fighters just 30 miles from the self-declared caliphate's capital city in Syria. . . both sides of the political spectrum accuse each other of using the South Carolina Church shooting for political motives . . .

Saturday, June 27, 2015

"More than 90,000 people have signed our petition asking the Democratic Party to host more presidential debates starting this summer. Voters shouldn't wait to hear candidates debate the very serious issues facing our country.

Friday, June 26, 2015

(from http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/supreme-court-just-handed-victory-obama-republicans-too-n381851 by Mark Murray)
". . . Had the Supreme Court invalidated the subsidies in some 30 states operating on the federal insurance marketplace, that would have affected nearly 6.4 million Americans, who would have seen their health costs skyrocket by about 300 percent. Republicans were ready to blame Obama for the potential chaos. But some of them acknowledged the GOP would get the brunt of the blame, especially since they backed the lawsuit challenging the subsidies. "[Obama will] have the ads all racked up with the individuals that have benefited from Obamacare on the backs of the American taxpayer," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., admitted in an April interview. Republicans also had been divided on how to respond. Some like Johnson wanted to extend the subsidies for Americans - in exchange for repealing the law's individual mandate. But others were in favor of letting the subsidies die, full stop. . ."

Thursday, June 25, 2015

(http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/jeb-bush-a-tolerant-country-should-allow-discrimination-based-upon-religious-beliefs/)
". . . In a sit-down interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Saturday, potential GOP presidential nominee Jeb Bush explained that a “tolerant country” should make room for “people of faith” to discriminate against others.

Speaking with host David Brody, the former Florida governor said, “It’s not just that people of faith can have their views, it’s that they need the space to act on their conscience. That is what faith is about.”

Saying the best of all religious beliefs is when people of faith act on their values to help others, Bush nonetheless defended the rights of those same people to deny “services” to people whose lifestyles they oppose.

Using the Washington florist who was sanctioned for refusing services to a gay customer as an example, Bush explained, “A big country, a tolerant country ought to be able to figure out the difference between discriminating against someone because of their sexual orientation, and not forcing someone to participate in a wedding that they find goes against their moral beliefs.” . . ."

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

(from http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/women-forbidden-attending-u-s-vs-iran-volleyball-game-n378356 from June 18, 2015)
". . . Women have been "forbidden" from watching Iran play the U.S. volleyball team . . . despite the government signaling it would loosen restrictions on females attending sports events. Earlier this month, Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi announced that a limited number of women — mainly members of players' families — would be allowed at upcoming men's volleyball matches. In an interview with The Associated Press, Molaverdi said women could also now watch live basketball, handball and tennis. However, women would not be allowed to attend soccer, swimming and wrestling. . . And in a clear sign of back-pedaling, the state-run ISNA news service on Friday quoted an official from Iran's volleyball federation as saying "the entry of women at volleyball matches is forbidden." The issue garnered worldwide attention after British-Iranian woman Ghoncheh Ghavami was arrested last year while protesting with other women outside Tehran's Azadi Stadium during a volleyball match between Iran and Italy. . . Nonetheless, the incident resulted in the International Volleyball Federation to call for Iran to allow women to attend all games or lose the right to host international tournaments. . . And over the course of the last six months, the government of Hassan Rouhani has indicated it wants to loosen the restrictions on women attending sports events — which date back to the 1979 Islamic revolution. . . "

Catch a wave and ride
Cars and motorbikes
Bikini babes in the sand
Vibin' to rockin' bands
Ocean City

From Memorial to Labor Day
We beckon you to play
To a boardwalk beat
Miles and miles of beach
Your memories to take
Currents dance and sway
leave your footprints in the sand

Fireworks at night
Give your love a kiss
Sail and fish the sea
Here life is a beach
in Ocean City

Now is the time that's right
For you only live once
Time does drag when it's all work and no fun
The ocean gateway calls you
Sport your shorts and shades
It's so divine to dine at life's buffet
It's almost heaven and
There's so much more we can say

Catch a wave and ride
Cool cars and motorbikes
Bikinis on the sand
Dance to rockin' bands
Ocean City

Ocean City Ditty
OHO(Jay Graboski, David Reeve and Ray Jozwiak) live at Johnny's-Ocean City, MD, June 2015

“. . . his unique and cutting edge jazz style in spades. Although very difficult to pigeon-hole and self-admittedly unique to any genre, his style is at once esoteric yet melodic and demands the listener to really pay attention. His writing takes you on jazz journeys that take you to places you never expected to go and make Ray an interesting listen. I like to call this “Brandy Music”, cause it goes so well with a snifter in hand. . . 3 of 4 Martinis!!”

I guess I really used to be much more of a romantic than I am now. That's not to say that I still don't harbor some romantic notions. The thought only crossed my mind recently while watching some episodes of the 'old' (I say with much reservation) television series 'Ally McBeal'. Now THERE (the character Ally McBeal) is a 'hopeless romantic' who feels that a potential romantic ideal exists for everyone and she is bound and determined to find hers. In the last episode I watched, one of two founding partners (it's still early in the show's run) of the law firm where she is employed, tells Ally (I'm paraphrasing) that she should never lose her 'romantic' notions. And I think maybe there is something inspirational about that. Pragmatism, divorced of all hope of something greater; something that transcends our mundane everyday existence, is woefully inadequate if one is to find meaning in life. Life offers us so much more . . .

Friday, June 19, 2015

. . . in this cyber-culture are becoming a burden . . . to say the least. . .

IF you happen to lose you password list for some reason, you'll be asked if you "Forgot your UserName" and/or "Forgot Your Password which will inevitably draw you into a cat-and-mouse game of either having an email sent to you which provides instructions for re-setting your password, or answering security question(S) [yes, that's a BIG "S"] which you may or may not have actually setup yourself or which may also have been included on that list of passwords or, worse yet, a different list of security questions which, for some odd reason, you have ALSO lost!!!

Thursday, June 18, 2015

(from http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/saudi-arabia-could-resume-flogging-raif-badawi-human-rights-watch-n373541)“. . . Saudi Arabia could resume flogging an activist as early as Friday after the country's Supreme Court upheld its sentence of 1,000 lashings and 10 years in prison, according to a human-rights group. Raif Badawi, 31, was convicted in 2013 of setting up a liberal website that Saudi officials said insulted religious authorities in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom. The blogger's sentence was condemned by the United States, the United Nations and others. The State Department called it a "brutal punishment" and said Badawi had merely been "exercising his rights to freedom of expression and religion.". . . ”

The State Department seems to have overlooked the fact that in Saudi Arabia, no one has rights to freedom of expression and religion. Couldn't they (we) have said (done) MORE!!????